FedUp2

I lost a whole bunch of Choice points because I failed to use them within 2 years. Is there any way to recover these points?

BigLar

Not that anyone here knows of.

RogerD408

Once they are gone, they are usually gone forever. CP does not extend points based upon activity. The only exception would be if they pulled newer points when they should have pulled the older ones. Proving that would be tough and tougher yet would be finding a CP agent to change things. I've had terrible luck getting CP agents that are willing to "help".

Case in point, I called about a missing post and was told that I can't get points for two different hotels on the same night. It turned out a property posted my stay as the day after when I was at another property. Instead of confirming the stay was posted wrong I was told can't be done. I had to go do the research and determine what went wrong and call back and explain all the details.

tom_MN

I called and had a small number of points (800) reinstated. They claimed it was a one time deal, though.

UA Fan

I hope this changes as this policy is a deal breaker for me.

sdsearch

I don't understand, you prefer to be able to "reinstate" lost points at just about the same rate as it costs to buy them in the first place?

That's the so-called "reinstatement" policy in some other programs.

The Choice website now very clearly tells you how many points expire this year and how many points expire next year. You have to really be not paying attention to not realize over the course of 2+ years that your points will expire and when they will expire.

(This is in contrast to WyndhamRewards which has a hard expiration at 4 years but no way to tell when that's coming up!)

UA Fan

I was referring to the expiration policy. Keep it such that an activity would reset the clock.

sdsearch

That's what I mean by "hard" expiration (non-resettable). "Soft" expiration is that which is resettable in some manner.

Choice has it, but documents very clearly on their website how many of your points will expire when. WynhdamRewards has it too, but doesn't tell you when it willl happen or to how many poitns, you have to learn about it by reading the T&Cs carefully and then keep track of when you earned every single point.

And btw a bunch of foreign airlines have "hard" expiration policies too. And still others have limited ways to reset, such as LAN which requires a paid LAN flight (not clear if codeshares qualify!) as the only possible reset, even though there is a LAN Visa issued by US Bank here in the US where LAN flights are few and far between and only if you're going all the way to South America.

UA Fan

I am not seeing what the relevance is about whether Choice lets you know how many points are expiring and when. I dislike that the points have a fixed life and like programs where life can be reset. It is one of the deal breakers when I choose programs.

This includes airlines as well. I avoid middle east airlines and used to avoid AC (might continue to avoid because of YQ). I have lost miles because of fixed expiration policies.

sdsearch

Well, at least with hotel programs you have a transfer out (to airlines) option. It may not be the best value, but if you can keep on top of your expiration date it means you shouldn't lose the hotel points completely, just have less value for them than they might have had had they stayed as hotel points.

Choice points are the fastest-to-earn on cheap stays in the industry (due to their ultra-frequent 8000 points for 2 separate "trips" promos). You have to choose between programs that have great promos but "hard" expiration, and prorams that have "soft" expiration but not such great promos. (Best Western points don't have "hard" expiration, and is the only "budget" hotel progarm without "hard" expiration, but good luck earning Best Western points at even 1/2 of the speed as Choice points, because their promos are not only much smaller but capped, while most Choice promos are uncapped.)

italdesign

I have a question about expiration.

Choice FAQ says:

Choice Privileges points expire on December 31, two years after the year in which they were deposited into your account unless forfeited or canceled earlier due to membership inactivity or otherwise in accordance to these rules and regulations.

What exactly constitutes "membership inactivity"? I earned 8K in May 2013. I plan to use it right before they expire in Dec 2015. I don't plan to earn or use any points in between. Should I be concerned?

Firewind

Oh, this is a big one to me, and I suspect to others. It was my biggest issue with Southwest for years. Many have suspected that the non-notification was part of their business model.

And italdesign, the "membership inactivity" wording is superfluous, or at least redundant to the hard expiry provision.